New Trading Standards partnership to deliver considerable savings

Hundreds of thousands of pounds are set to be saved by Devon County Council and Somerset County Council as the authorities work to establish a joint Trading Standards Service.

The move, which was approved by Councillors this week, will see a fully shared service created covering both Devon and Somerset, comprising staff from both authorities and offices in both counties.

Councillor Roger Croad, Devon County Council’s Cabinet Member with responsibility for Trading Standards, said: “With increasing pressure on budgets we must make sure we work hard to get the best value from our spending and find more efficient and cost-effective ways of providing services.

“By collaborating with our neighbours in Somerset to create a joint Trading Standards Service we can deliver substantial savings without significantly impacting on the front line services delivered.

“Certain Trading Standards functions have always benefited from working on a larger scale, for example providing the resource base and the flexibility to deal with complex investigations or emergency situations and improved intelligence sharing.

“By joining forces with Somerset Council, we will not only achieve major savings in ‘back room’ costs, but will create a bigger and more agile Trading Standards Service with a range of specialist expertise needed to cover the broad range of functions within the services’ remit and have the necessary ‘clout’ to tackle major organisations.

“I am pleased that in tough economic times such as this we are able to work together to improve services whilst delivering real value to our council tax payers.”

The move mirrors a number of other local authorities across the country that have successfully combined their Trading Standards Services.

David Hall, Deputy Leader of Somerset County Council, and Cabinet Member with responsibility for Trading Standards, said: “We are pleased to announce that we are working with Devon County Council to look at combining our Trading Standards services.

“It is important that we continue to explore different ways of working that improve services and deliver value to the Council Tax payer, especially at a time when we need to make each and every pound travel as far as possible.

“We are working together so that we are flexible and adaptable in the future whilst ensuring service levels are kept high.”

The plan now goes to meeting of Somerset's Full Council on 20 April for final approval.